


Billionaire

by AdessoFaSilenzio



Category: Eerie Crests (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen, silly kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 19:25:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10367670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdessoFaSilenzio/pseuds/AdessoFaSilenzio
Summary: Malek and Ben bring out their respective instruments during baseball practice. Blake hits a home run but forgets to actually run.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had to write something happy. Listen with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwlK5b4KYfI but also Ben is playing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKyBqFVTGJQ
> 
> I just want happy players, okay?! There is literally no plot here at all, no agonizing, no dysphoria, no anything except good, fun-loving teenagers who are NOT missing and/or dead. They're just having fun!!! They're just playing around!!! AH!!

It wasn't at all uncommon for Malek to sling his soft case onto the bench of the dugout and carefully, lovingly pull out the worn down guitar that had been his dad's. It also wasn't that rare for Ben to grab his ukulele by the neck and yank it out of his backpack, catching on his textbooks and the spiral sides of his notebooks - unhealthy _twang_ noises ringing out from the strings. (The thing was all scratched up due to his carelessness, but if that wasn't so typically _Ben_ nothing else was.)

It was more rare for the two of them to do this on the same day, however. And whenever they _did,_ the rest of the team knew they were in for a real treat.

Mid-April let loose some of those absolutely gorgeous days where the sun actually managed to shoo the rain away - the breeze was still cool, but when it faded they were all left with that feeling of being baked. Blake had been all but moaning in pleasure about how he was going to tan so nicely just from this one practice. He'd even had the gall to push away the sunblock Ty had offered him with a scoff and an overly-dramatic eye roll. He'd pay for that later, but that was his own choice.

Ben and Malek propped themselves up on the cement wall of the dugout, settling their instruments on their laps as best they could, what with Mal's catcher's vest and Ben's secret fear of taking a baseball to the face. Margo was a great pitcher, but sometimes a random pop fly would make it's way toward their haven. He didn't want to take that chance, so he kept a weary eye out just in case. Ari was in as backup for Mal so they could get some practice in and Parker of all people was up to bat. Phoebus was on second and Poppy, at shortstop, was watching both him and Parker with the sharpness of a hawk, eyes narrowed into slits and darting occasionally from one blond to the other.

The music Malek started playing was quick and light, playful strums and taps against the body that made him sway gently from left to right and back again. Usually there was no intro to this song, but he kept at it, playing the same few notes over and over until Ben picked up on the cue and started picking his own instrument to match. The tones fit well together, almost like they'd practiced this more than individually (they hadn't), and Malek turned to watch Dallas pitch with an easy smile plastered on his face.

"I wanna be a billionaire, so freaking bad..." 

The words were slower than the actual song, but Malek had set the pace when he'd begun strumming, and it wasn't too hard to fit the lyrics into the new time. His voice was notoriously beautiful, a fact known not only by the team but by the entirety of the school. Malek Solh was a _cool kid_. He had a _cool_ air about him and _cool_ gauged ears and maybe _not_ so cool friends but like that didn't really matter they were nice in their own rights. People gravitated toward him. He had soft eyes that in one instant looked like they'd seen the horrors of the universe and in the next instant seemed to be wholly in love with whomever he was looking at. He was accepting and easygoing and above all else, he listened.

The only reason Dallas hadn't flubbed his pitch was because Mal had started singing _after_ he released the ball.

Parker swung and missed, with Ari calling out "strike one" in a low voice. They didn't really want to call Parker out like that, especially when they knew he was good and had probably only missed due to distraction. Mal was playing favorites, turning Dallas' already great talent into something more. It was cheating, honestly.

He kept singing, voice light but full, laughing to himself when Parker struck again. He wasn't _really_ teasing, just having some fun. "Get 'em, Jonas!" he called to his teammate between lines, and hooted loudly when he made it to first.

Blake stepped up to bat and bobbed his head along with the duet just as Malek finished his verse and shoved Ben playfully on the shoulder. Dallas' cheeks were burning bright red, prompted to do so from a glance everyone else had missed and a wink from his best friend. He wound up and pitched, and Blake hit a foul.

"Yeah I would have a show like Oprah, I would be the host of, everyday Christmas, give Benny your wish list-" They were both swaying now, Ben rapping easily as Malek laughed and played along. Dallas wasn't the only person on the field with darkening ears and cheeks.

"Give away a few Mercedes like, here baby have this-"

This time when Dallas pitched, Blake hit the ball so hard it sailed straight over Poppy's head, right between the outfielders, and rolled to a stop at the edge of the woods. Sara Portman looked up from her place in the bleachers (she was still new and trying to decide whether or not she actually wanted to join the team...) to watch Phoebus and Parker high tail it around the bases and huff and puff back to home. Phoebus shoved Blake from where he was still standing over the plate "go, dude, _run!_ " and laughed as he only made it to second before the ball was back in a hand that could've tagged him out.

Charlie called for a switch and the players traipsed either out or in, depending. Dallas propped himself up beside Malek as Blake replaced him as pitcher, a small smile like an unsure child playing across his features. Poppy was up to bat first, Ari unfastening their vest so they could go up next. "Oh every time I close my eyes," Mal serenaded Dallas, leaning closer and letting his eyes slip closed in tandem with the lyrics, "I see my name in shining lights~"

It continued like this for a good few minutes, everyone bobbing their heads or dancing a little on the sidelines as Malek and Ben each displayed their skills. Cicadas joined in noisily every couple of moments from the wall of trees a few hundred yards away. Dallas hopped off the wall to go bat, and was waiting at third by the time his friends finished their song together. Malek was supposed to be up now, but the plate stood vacant, empty. He still hadn't even taken off his vest.

"I wanna be a billionaire... so freaking bad..."

After some whooping and clapping and whistling and one Tyler Beaumont hollering "play me some _Santana_ Mally, baby!" from first base, Charlie laughed and shook her head. "You done, Solh?" She asked, tone betraying the fact that she didn't really mind one bit. They'd won their last game, after all. Let them have a moment of fun. "Get your butt up to bat."

With another easy grin, Malek answered "yeah, yeah, I'm going. Dickmax, help me unclip this thing please?" He lifted his guitar above his head to grant Ben easier access to the clasp at his side, teasing grin at the nickname lighting his face all the while, and carried all of the now awkwardly displaced weight to the bench to set down.

They won their next real game, too.


End file.
